


Pandora's Box

by BrightTerror



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Gil Arroyo Acting as Malcolm Bright's Parental Figure, Good Parent Gil Arroyo, Hurt Malcolm Bright, Jackie and Gil are Malcolms second set of parents, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Panic Attacks, Slight Dissociation, Young Malcolm Bright, and he gets one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23535475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightTerror/pseuds/BrightTerror
Summary: A fic inspired by Atomrealm's prompt on tumblr "for the fic prompt maybe a childhood fic uwu like Ainsley and Malcolm spending time at the arroyos with some Malcolm angst ofc"Basically, Malcolm and Ainsley are spending the night at the Arroyos shortly after Martin's arrest and everything is fine until Malcolm sees something that reminds him of a certain girl in a box.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Gil Arroyo/Jackie Arroyo, Jackie Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Ainsley Whitly
Comments: 12
Kudos: 51





	Pandora's Box

**Author's Note:**

> This was Beta'd by the amazing @Klargreeves.  
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> BTW in case anyone is wondering Malcolm is ten and Ainsley is five in the fic.

Martin had been arrested exactly four months ago and it hadn’t been going well for the Whitly family. Jessica got socially excluded from every single one of her rich social groups, she was being called a murderer and on top of that she had to deal with the upcoming trial of her ex-husband. She had too much to deal with and barely had time to be a mother to Ainsley and Malcolm. 

Luckily for her, Gil and his wife Jackie had been there for them when no one else was. They were constantly helping out and checking on the three Whitlys. Malcolm and Ainsley had been going more often than not to Gil’s house in the afternoon while Jessica took care of legal aspects, and although she would never admit it she knew the Arroyos were as much of a family to her kids as she was. 

Jessica got wrapped up with more legal work one day after there was an announcement in which Martin was taking a plea deal and therefore she had to stay late. Thankfully she was made aware of this while the kids were still at school so she called Gil. 

“Jessica, is everyone alright?” Gil answered immediately. Usually a call from her meant something was wrong. 

“Everyone is fine, don’t worry, Gil. However, I’ve just been informed that I will apparently not be going home until midnight and the new nanny just quit after finding out about Martin. It's the third one this month.”

Gil got a sense of what was going on. “Don’t worry about it, Jessica. They can come to my house after school, I’ll tell Jackie to pick them up and we will make sure they eat properly and are taken care of.” 

“You would do that?” Jessica was bewildered. She knew Gil was helping but she also knew everyone she had contact with was ghosting her and thought it was a matter of time until Gil did it too. 

“Of course, Jackie and I love those two as much as our own. We would be thrilled to have them stay with us.”

“Thank you, Gil.” Jessica said truthfully. “I’ll have Adolfo leave their overnight bags at your house. He can also pick them up from school-”

“Jackie can pick them up, she works nearby. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

“I’ll pick them up tomorrow at ten.”

________

Gil had called Jackie immediately after his call with Jessica. She had agreed wholeheartedly with picking them up from school and letting them stay over. They knew they had to make a plan before the kids arrived since Malcolm had been having a tough time and they wanted to make him feel at home. 

Malcolm was just beginning to talk again after being mute for two months. It happened overnight after his interrogation with Shannon and no one could make him say a word afterwards. About two weeks ago Malcolm started talking more and more and it made Gil and Jackie so happy to see him making progress. Although, the kid barely ate from what he had been told and had seen, so he had to think of something he would eat. He thought pizza was a safe option. 

Gil glanced at the time and saw he still had four more hours of work, so he dived into the paperwork. 

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he was snapped away from his work and heard small steps running around outside his office. He could recognise those steps anywhere, so he looked up to see Jackie entering his office with Ainsley and Malcolm running towards him. 

“Gil!” The two kids yelled, and Ainsley ran to his desk while Malcolm walked. He was also happy to see him but decided to act more civilised. 

Gil stood up and lifted Ainsley, swinging her through the air before hugging her and putting her back down. Her little giggles were probably heard through the whole precinct. “Hello there, princess.”

Malcolm hugged him once he finished greeting Ainsley and had a small smile on his face. Gil was happy his kid was smiling more each day, even if it was only a little. 

“Hey, kid, what brings you around here? What a lovely surprise.” Gil grinned and cupped his hand on Malcolm’s neck. 

“I picked them up from school and they were begging me to let them come visit you at work. I told them you were busy, but Malcolm debated that we could come when your work hours were done so we didn’t interrupt you.” Jackie answered with a loving smile at her husband. “And I cannot say no to them and they know it.” 

Gil grinned and greeted Jackie with a kiss. “Well, he does have a good point.” He looked at Malcolm and ruffled his hair. “This was a great idea. You’re smart, kid.” 

Malcolm showed another of his rare smiles. 

Gil saw the time and noticed he only had two minutes till his shift was over, so he grabbed his things and coat. “Let’s get out of here. Who wants some pizza?” 

Ainsley cheered loudly. “Yes, pizza! Mommy doesn’t like when we get pizza.”

Malcolm only shrugged and nodded to the pizza, yet he didn’t complain so Gil would take it as a win. “Well, it’s your lucky day! We are having pizza and a movie night.”

_________

They got in Gil’s car, a Le Mans that he had bought shortly after his arrest on the Surgeon. They passed through a pizza place and got two large pizzas. A cheese pizza for the kids and a pepperoni and ham for him and Jackie. 

Once they arrived home they settled down on the couch and dropped the pizza on the coffee table. Jackie put on “The Lion King” because Malcolm and Ainsley liked it. Gil was sitting at one end of the couch next to Malcolm, who was in between him and Jackie, and Ainsley was at Jackie’s side. 

Malcolm ate one whole slice of pizza before he put his plate down and snuggled Gil. Gil didn’t try to force him to eat anymore and praised him for eating at least something. 

Once the movie was over Ainsley got up from the couch and demanded Malcolm to play with her. 

“Mal! Let’s play hide and seek! You count because you’re the older one!” Ainsley said. She was hugging her plushie Malcolm gave her on her fifth birthday last month. 

Malcolm was tired and just wanted to rest. But he couldn’t say no to his little sister. He faked a smile and nodded. “Sure, Ains. Go hide.” 

Ainsley squealed with joy and ran through the house trying to find a place to hide. 

Malcolm didn’t close his eyes to count; he just stared at Gil with a shrug and started counting loudly as he slumped down onto the couch. “One… two… three…” When he didn’t hear Ainsley running around anymore, he stood up and finished counting. “Twenty-nine... thirty! Here I come!”

Malcolm walked through the kitchen, making enough noise to let Ainsley know where he was. He then went around the dining table and upstairs to Gil and Jackie’s room. He heard giggles coming from the closet, but he pretended he didn’t hear them. He walked around the room, looking behind the curtains and under the bed. “Hmm… I wonder where she is.” Malcolm said loudly and tried not to sound too obvious. 

He then opened the closet door and saw Ainsley had hid in a box that was inside. 

“Boo! You found me!” Ainsley laughed and clapped. 

Malcolm jumped back and reclined his back against the bed. _The girl in the box_. All he could see when he opened the door was memories of that night. He saw there was a girl, light hair, hurt and dead. Now all he could see was that girl, not Ainsley. He started to hyperventilate and couldn’t focus on his environment. He didn’t notice Ainsley freaking out next to him. 

“Malcolm?” Ainsley asked when she saw her big brother sitting on the floor, hugging his knees and shocked. “Malcolm?” Ainsley saw Malcolm didn’t even notice she was there. “Mal, you’re scaring me.” She didn’t know what to do so she screamed at the top of her lungs. “JACKIEE! GIL! HELP!” 

________

Gil and Jackie were still on the couch while the kids played. They shared looks and smiles as they heard Ainsley giggling while she was trying to hide and loved to see Malcolm being such a great brother and playing with her. 

“They’re resilient kids, they will make it far.” Jackie started once Malcolm left to find his sister. “But they shouldn’t have to live through all this. They should be allowed to be kids.” 

“No one should live through what they are going through. Ainsley doesn't seem to care much about the changes. She got a new imaginary friend though, Mr Boots, but her therapist says it’s normal. The one I’m worried about is Malcolm. You saw how he was last month,” Gil said. “Did you notice anything when you picked him up from school?”

“The kids stayed away when he walked through the gates to leave the school but they were not picking on him.” _Yet._

“We need to-”

That's when they heard the piercing scream of Ainsley and they dashed through the house towards the kids.

“Are you hurt?” Jackie called as they were halfway through the stairs. 

“SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH MAL!” Ainsley screamed again. This time she was crying. 

They got to their room and saw Ainsley was crying and Malcolm was sitting on the floor, hyperventilating and trembling. His eyes seemed unfazed and his face had turned pale. 

Jackie immediately picked up Ainsley to take her away from there so Gil could calm down Malcolm. “Come on, sweetie. Let's get you cleaned up from those tears.” She said softly and sweet. “Your brother will be fine, it’s okay.”

Once they left, Gil sat next to Malcolm on the floor. He knew the signs of a panic attack when he saw one after being in the police for so long. However, he knew there was something more to it. “Malcolm, listen to me. You have to breathe. Copy me: One deep breath in, now let it out.”

Malcolm was still not snapping out of it, but he started to mumble. “The girl... there was a girl in the box.” Gil glanced at the closet and saw there was a small box, big enough to fit Ainsley. He had an idea of what happened. He had heard about the girl in the box many times and knew Malcolm was traumatised because of Martin. Gil carefully grabbed Malcolm's arm so he could feel Gil was there. Malcolm jumped from where he was at the touch and was visibly scared until he finally made eye contact and saw where he was. “Gil?”

“Yeah, kid, it’s me. You’re okay and you’re safe. You are not with the girl in the box.” Gil said softly.

“Can’t breathe.” Malcolm hyperventilated. 

“Listen kid, you got to copy my breathing. Deep breaths. That’s it, you’re doing amazing.” 

After a few minutes of breathing, Malcolm had calmed himself and was slowly regaining his usual skin colour instead of the pale shade he was earlier. Gil then sat next to him so he could hug him sideways and Malcolm melted at the touch and curled into him. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for. This was not your fault.”

“I couldn’t see Ains, I just saw that girl. They couldn’t find her in time.” He said, voice cracking. 

“We don’t know there was a girl in the box, but it’s still early to tell. Your father still needs to go through trial and new evidence might come up. If she exists, we will find her. I promise.”

“Thank you, Gil.”

They stayed there for about twenty minutes until Jackie opened the door to check on them. “How are my boys?” She smiled.

“Great. We are better, now aren’t we?” Gil raised an eyebrow and smiled encouragingly. 

Malcolm nodded. “How’s Ains?”

Jackie told him. “She is fine. I put her to sleep in the guest room once she was tired out of tears.”

Malcolm nodded and stiffened a yawn. “I’m sorry for scaring you three. Next time I can stay home when Mom isn’t there.” 

Jackie booped his nose and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “You have nothing to apologise for. You hear? And don’t say that, you are _always_ welcomed here, okay? We love you as our own and will do our best to make you happy.”

Malcolm was tongue-tied. He didn’t know what to say. That was new. Usually people stayed away from him now and tried to pass him to be someone else's problem. “Thank you.” He said truthfully. 

“Of course, now let's get you to sleep, shall we?”

_____

Jackie, Gil and Malcolm set up his bed and helped him with his portable restraints to put in the headrest. Jackie went to get him a glass of water while Gil was putting an extra blanket.

“Gil?” Malcolm said, barely audibly.

Gil stopped what he was doing and gave his full attention to his kid. “What is it, kid?” He gave an encouraging grin. 

“Uh… next week is ‘Bring your father to school day…’” Malcolm began. He was saying it quietly, but Gil understood. He had thought Malcolm would want to skip that day, given the fact that his father was on trial for 23 murders. But the kid continued talking. “I was wondering if you could go with me.” He yawned again. 

Gil was speechless. He smiled and tried to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. “Of course, I would be honoured.” He placed a kiss on his forehead and headed to the door. “Sweet dreams.” 

He turned off the lights and went to Jackie’s and his room where they didn’t sleep until past midnight, spending all the time making plans to remodel their house so they could get their two kids a room of their own for the next time they visited. 

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? comments and kudos always make my day and i love hearing your thoughts so leave a comment! 
> 
> Find me on tumblr as @Sherlock-Freud, I'm always down to talk about this great show and our whump king Malcolm Bright :)


End file.
